Hi, got an infection with my expander after two months, had to have it taken out,
Hi
Not sure if I am too late to reply to this question. I was diagnosed in 2005 and had a mastectomy but no radiotherapy. I decided to have reconstruction last year and got a tissue expander put in in January. I got it filled up every 2 weeks. It was very sore just after fill up but then settled down. One time I got it filled up too much and had to get some taken back out as it was so sore. I have had them in now since then and have been on holiday and can get the ‘proper’ ones put in October time. I have been offered surgery on the other breast to even it up. I can say that I am so glad I decided to go for this option. I have an amazing clevage, I can wear any clothes I want to and it looks great with a bra to even both sides up. I didnt think I needed reconstruction - there was no need I was fine as I was. But now having done it I am so glad I did.
I’m half way through my radiotherapy treatment now and this dam expander is so uncomfortable. I don’t know if its because the rads make your skin a bit tighter or what but it’s unbearable sometimes especially at night when you’re lying down.
I’m going to phone my BCN tomorrow and ask if its possible to have some fluid taken out cos I can’t put up with this for much longer.
Hi buzzy
Sorry I didn’t see your original post - I was back in hospital with an infection around my tissue expander! The surgeon managed to save it by doing something unpleasant with al the infected seroma that had gathered around it…so I still have it. I had an mx in one side in July with a tissue expander, put in because I couldn’t have immediate reconstruction because going to have radiotherapy and told this may damage the skin around the recon.
Like you I’ve found it to be much more uncomfortable and troublesome than the mx. I’ve had pain around the ports, and still do bit, then got a really bad infection and a seroma in the breast two weeks after the mx. My theory is that the portal got infected and then it spread. My advice is that if its red then to go back to the hospital and the surgeon who did it to show to them. Gps don’t really know that much about them so may miss an infection.
I found it very uncomfortable to sleep on, but it’s getting better now. I still have swelling, fluid under my arm and around my breast.
I haven’t had any fluid put in, partly because of the seroma and infection and party because there is some swelling there still. But I’m pretty sure they told me it would be filled after the rads and not before. I don’t think it needs much - it’s quite swollen anyway! But I tell myself it will make a better recon when the time comes !
I wish they’d find a better way of saving the skin though - temp expanders seem an unsatisfactory way of doing things. I still haven’t decided what sort of recon to go for.
X
Hi Impatiens
Sorry to hear you’ve had so much trouble with yours. I told the radiologist today that it was feeling really tight and she said that it’s probably because the radiotherapy has affected the tissue expander and made it go a bit hard which is the whole point why you don’t have your recon before radiotherapy. I know its not an infection because I’ve had one before and that was very different.
All the doctors and nurses I’ve seen have said that my skin looks very good so I guess I’ll just keep slapping on the cream and hope it feels better after rads have finished!
H buzzy
Glad your skins looking good! Are you using cream if so, then what? Any tips welcome.
I have to say that although it’s been a bit of a pain, literally, I’m glad to have a bump and not be completely flat. Just the way I feel about it - I know lots of women don’t mind the flatness, but I didn’t want to be.
X
Having a bit of a bump is an advantage. Sometimes it even looks like I still have a cleavage!
I’ve been using 99.9% Aloe vera gel after each radiotherapy treatment and Aqueous cream morning and evening despite all the negative press it has had on here about it thinning your skin etc. It seems to be doing the trick so if it ain’t broke don’t fix it I say!
Hi everybody, thanks for responding to my post when I was complaining about my red sore breast. After three lots of antibiotics it is now a paler shade of red and not sore. I probably did’t explain it very well but my problem felt exactly as if I had a bad burn and was very hot. Breast Surgeon is still puzzled as to whether it was an infection or me rejecting the thing. Am having fill-ups now and it is expanding at the bottom more than the top, the skin is so thin that I am afraid it could burst through. I even have been warned that if this happens to go straight back to hosp. I wish somebody had warned me as I might have gone for ld flap. Its nice to know I am not alone in having problems and I am so sorry that some of you have had much more to put up with.
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Best of luck to you all.
Hi Jasmine
Did you by any chance have a “softie” to wear which was full of polyester? I ask that because I was given one by the hospital after my mx. You can take the stuffing out as your expander gets more and more inflated. Only after about a week my breast area was really red and sore. I was taken into hospital and treated for an infection with anti biotics. It wasn’t until a few days later when it wasn’t getting any better that a friend of mine suggested I could be allergic to the softie stuffing. I put it to the doctor and although he was a bit sceptical, he sent me home and told me not to wear it for a while and see what happened. And that was what it was! Since then I’ve had to make to with cotton wool or socks!
Hi buzzy
That’s really interesting about the softie, my breast was always red, different shades depending on the infection, but I’ll keep an eye on that. I’ve started wearing a bigger softie no that I have no implant to fill it out a bit.
Hope it’s still going ok for you both
Alison
Hi there
I had an expander implant put in last year.
It was uncomfortable for ages, and for me, did not resemble a breast at all.
However,what it did do, is provide me with a shape that looked normal under clothes, even though it sat higher than my healthy real breast, and for that ,i was really grateful.
Jasmine, please watch out for thinning skin. Alas, this happened to me and the skin broke,with the implant exposed.
Not saying this will happen to you at all, but just make sure your surgeon is aware, as mine was clueless !
Naz x
Hello again girls,
It is somewhat comforting to realise that my little problems are very familiar to several of you and the theory of being allergic to the softie was interesting, I am the type who could be allergic to practically anything but as I only wore the softie about three times (I was too sore to bear the pressure of a bra) so I don’t think it was that.
I have only had 160ml put in yet but the skin is stretched tight across the bottom of the breast although the rest is OK, the implant must be nearer the surface there. My surgeon checks it every week so I think he recognises the danger of it breaking through. I was normally only a B cup so thankfully I shouldn’t need too many fills. For once in my life I am grateful for a bony chest and small boobs.
Sorry it happened to you Naz, did you have to have the expander removed?
Hi Naz
If I had taken the trouble to read another thread I would not have asked the question ‘did you have to have your implant removed’.
Have been reading about all you have suffered and I do hope everything will go smoothly for you from now on.
Best of luck
Jasmine
Hi Jasmine
Your surgeon sounds very competent (which is what you would expect) so i am sure you will be fine in the end.
Mine was oblivious to what had happened, and even when he was told my another PS at a different hospital, he still denied that there was a problem.
I hope things go smoothly from now on too.
Naz